


The Back-Up Plan

by ImJaebabie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Bad Matchmaking, Exes, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Back Together, M/M, Matchmaking, i am once again sorry about jaehyun, past jaehyun / jungwoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:07:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27708095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImJaebabie/pseuds/ImJaebabie
Summary: It's a normal Tuesday night when Donghyuck shows up at Jaehyun's front door, his old leather jacket hanging off his shoulders and that classic grin tugging the corner of his lips, and asks Jaehyun to marry him.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 17
Kudos: 166





	The Back-Up Plan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [softplacetonest (aurorasparrowmist)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurorasparrowmist/gifts).



> here we go, transcribed over from twt, for posterity. 
> 
> also, i mentioned there that i would add a scene here if i moved it. i...did not add that scene. it was too much re-working, too much effort. so naturally i instead put that effort into making all the texting. lmao. i'm sorry.

It's a normal Tuesday night when Donghyuck shows up at Jaehyun's front door, his old leather jacket hanging off his shoulders and that classic grin tugging the corner of his lips.

And it isn't as though Jaehyun hasn't seen him in years. A few months, maybe, last at some mutual friend's party in uptown. From what Jaehyun can remember of that night, they'd been more than civil. Donghyuck told everyone the canned soup story and Jaehyun's date stayed happy. As exes go, they're the good kind. Occasionally the best kind, the kind that call when they're both single and a little antsy, and meet up for a night or two because they know how.

So Donghyuck at his door isn't that rare or strange. But it is now, because Jaehyun didn't expect Donghyuck, and they only show up at each other's places like this with permission.

"Your candle's almost burnt out," is what Donghyuck says first, when Jaehyun lets him saunter inside. He kicks off his shoes and folds into the corner of the couch like it hasn't been almost eight years since that was his right to do.

Jaehyun glances at the candle on the coffee table. "I guess it is. Why are you here, Hyuckie?"

The younger man grins. "I figured it was just about time to come see you, hyung."

"Miss me?" Jaehyun asks, relaxing a little and going back to the mug of tea he just finished preparing. He carries it to the couch's other end and sits facing his past lover.

"Always do. But that's not exactly why, you know that."

The tea bites his tongue, a little hot. "I do?"

"Mhm." Donghyuck leans into the sofa arm. "It's June, hyung. My birthday was last week." 

"Oh, happy birthday. Sorry I missed it." 

Donghyuck waves a hand. "Day wasn't important. But I'm thirty now, you know."

Even though Jaehyun can objectively accept it, the idea of Hyuck at thirty strikes a dissonant chord. He imagines it's because Donghyuck will never look a day over twenty-five, age all glow and no show.

"So grown up. You look great," he says.

Donghyuck peers at him, like he's waiting. Like Jaehyun owes him something more.

"Hyung, I'm thirty," he says. "And I'm single."

"Con...gratulations?"

 _"Hyung."_ This time it's a whine, his exasperated one. "Don't you remember our back-up plan?"

Tea steam tickles Jaehyun's chin while he picks his own brain for the plan in reference. Unfortunately, Donghyuck had always loved making plans for things: the plan for getting free dinners by pretending it was one of their birthdays; the plan to try every fish cake stand in Seoul; the plan to foster dogs as a way to meet men. ("It's genius. If they're adopting a dog I can get a read on if they're a good catch instantly. Also, puppies in my house.")

So maybe Jaehyun doesn't know exactly which plan is the back-up one he means. Unless...

A weird hot coal thump in Jaehyun's chest.

"The. _The_ back-up plan?"

Donghyuck brightens. "I knew you remembered it. So, what do you think?" He wiggles his shoulders. "It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do, hey baby, I think I—"

Before Donghyuck can finish singing the line, Jaehyun cuts him off, gripping his mug a little too tightly and blurting a forceful— 

"I'm not single."

"—wanna...um. Oh." Donghyuck stops wiggling and brings a hand to his cheek, patting. "Well, I feel stupid now."

"Donghyuck, it's fine, really."

"You could have told me."

"When? You've been here for ten minutes."

"When you opened the door? 'Hi Hyuckie, I have a boyfriend. Come on in.' Or are you regularly letting strange men who aren't your main squeeze into your place late at night?"

"Main squeeze..." Jaehyun almost forgot how Donghyuck was. Almost. He sets down his tea. "Look, Hyuck—“

"So where is he?" Peeling himself from the couch, Donghyuck starts poking around, into the kitchen and down the hall like he'll find Jaehyun's significant other hiding in a laundry basket.

Jaehyun hurries to follow him. Stop him? "Obviously, not here right now."

This does not deter Donghyuck. "What's he like? Smart? Good hair? Show me a picture." He stops rummaging through the bathroom cupboard and turns on Jaehyun.

"I...hold, hold on." In the bathroom doorway, Jaehyun opens his phone gallery and flicks through, ignoring the feeling of being oddly cornered. He taps a photo, and holds it out for Donghyuck to see.

"There. That's him."

Donghyuck stares at it for a few seconds, then hisses out a breath and a curse. "Fuck. He's gorgeous."

Jaehyun says, "You should see him in person!" And quickly regrets it.

A sharp nod. "If you insist. We can do Saturday brunch, like old times. At eleven." Then he's sliding past Jaehyun and by the time Jaehyun has mentally caught up, Donghyuck is putting his second shoe on and exiting the door.

"Donghyuck, I don't know if he—“

"See you Saturday!"

The door shuts on Jaehyun's protest and he's left with the vacuum always created by Donghyuck leaving a place, and the knowledge that brunch will happen whether he likes it or not.

Feeling a little cold, Jaehyun hesitates a moment, then slides his phone open and enters a number he remembers but no longer has saved as a contact.

He prays a bit when it rings once, twice...five times. Then, finally— 

"My my my, to what do I owe the pleasure of a call from Jung Jaehyun?" a silky voice answers.

Jaehyun curls his sweaty free hand into a fist, nails biting.

"Hey, Jungwoo...listen, I know I just said we were over but...I need you to be my boyfriend again."

— 

On Saturday morning at quarter-to-eleven, Jaehyun sits at the small outdoor table, his hands folded in his lap, fingers tapping each other, and looks down the sidewalk to his left.

"This is a little pathetic, Jaehyun," Jungwoo, across from him, points out.

"Can you not remind me?"

Jungwoo brushes back dark chocolate hair, shaking it out and making Jaehyun briefly wonder which of his decisions was the dumbest one, and says, "Nope. As a condition of my presence here, I get to say whatever I want to you, _baby."_

Jaehyun winces. "Just for an hour."

"And after that?"

"He'll be convinced long enough to forget the idea?"

"Foolish optimism is cute on you." 

"It's all I have, okay?" Jaehyun tugs at his collar. Sixteen degrees Celsius is hotter than he recalls. But then—"Wait, shut up. He's here."

Donghyuck leaves behind the waiter who led him to the table and approaches with a mild smile, his eyes straying from Jaehyun to Jungwoo, scanning him head to toe like an airport x-ray machine.

"Morning," he says sunnily, then immediately, "do you always sit four feet apart?"

The chair screeches on the patio as Jaehyun reaches and drags Jungwoo next to him, keeping his face pleasantly placid as he drapes an arm over Jungwoo's shoulders. Jungwoo nestles into him, a hand falling on Jaehyun's crossed knees.

"Hey Hyuck," says Jaehyun. "Have a seat."

He does, and throws a hand out towards Jungwoo, ostensibly to shake. "Lee Donghyuck, _close_ friend of Jaehyun hyung for almost ten years.”

Jungwoo grasps it, loose for how Hyuck appears to grip hard. "Kim Jungwoo. How funny we're just meeting! Baby, I didn't know you had such a cute friend."

"He never mentioned me?" asks Hyuck, taking his hand back slowly.

Jaehyun shakes his head, mouth nervous. "I'm sure I did."

"Oh?" From under long eyelashes, Jungwoo peers up at him, his charm on full blast. "I must have been...distracted."

His hand tightens on Jaehyun's knee and Jaehyun tries not to jump out of his seat. 

"Shall we order?" Jaehyun suggests in a rush.

"Order for us both, you know what I like, sweetie," says Jungwoo, unfairly since Jaehyun knows that he knows Jaehyun was never good at doing that.

Donghyuck gives them a sideways glance, then flips his menu open and allows it to take his attention. Even still, Jungwoo doesn't break character, toying with Jaehyun's sleeve and keeping close to him even throughout Jaehyun lining out their order to an unimpressed server.

With a plate of eggs benedict finally in front of him, Donghyuck takes just one bite before pointing his fork at Jungwoo and asking, "So, how long have you been together?"

"About two months," Jungwoo says, which is more or less true. Jaehyun can see Donghyuck pause to calculate back, knowing he saw Jaehyun with someone else at that party.

"And you met how?"

Jungwoo forks a bite of melon. "A mutual friend set us up." Also true. "Good matchmaker."

That part is not as true, thinks Jaehyun.

"What do you like best about each other?"

Jaehyun can answer that honestly, if only because he knows why he liked Jungwoo so much at first. "Jungwoo is very sweet," he says, "and very funny."

"And I like this," Jungwoo says, and pokes his finger right into the dimple in Jaehyun's cheek. "Also, he's great at doing the dishes."

Donghyuck makes a protesting hum over his bite, waving his fork in disagreement. "Mm no, now I know that isn't true."

"You're right, I was testing you," admits Jungwoo, making Donghyuck blink in surprise. "So, want to tell me why you're testing us?"

Jaehyun ices over completely.

A blush floods Donghyuck's neck. He sighs and dabs the corner of his lips with his napkin. "Alright, I concede. Protective friend mode is off. You guys...make a nice couple."

Tension melts off Jaehyun down to his fingertips and he breathes a sigh of relief, letting himself sag against Jungwoo a degree. Suddenly the scent of coffee and toast around him is welcome and bright, like he hadn't noticed it all with how nervous he was, although the sudden release of adrenaline leaves him feeling a little...

Jungwoo sits quietly for a second, taking latte sips and looking at Donghyuck. "Thanks," he says finally, then, "he really isn't good at doing dishes though, is he?"

"Better at cooking, right?" Donghyuck responds with instant animation. "Only one half domesticated."

They both laugh despite Jaehyun's protest, and then it's as though there has been no awkwardness at all, conversation flowing easily between them like syrup over buttery pancakes.

Eventually, Donghyuck stops laughing, heaves a sigh, and says, "God, I need a friend to introduce me to someone too. I don't want to be single."

And, oh. That is an idea. An idea that blossoms inside Jaehyun's head like a whole bouquet of daisies at once.

"I can introduce you to someone," says Jaehyun.

Donghyuck's face warps from amused complaint into something wholly unreadable. "...you can?"

Jaehyun nods. "Totally."

At his side, Jungwoo sets down his latte and turns, cupping his chin in one hand to stare at Jaehyun. "Is that right?"

"Yeah, I already have someone in mind. You'll love him, Donghyuck-ah. I'm sure of it."

His certainty does not appear to be shared, as Donghyuck moves his fork listlessly around his plate and Jungwoo seems to stare even harder at Jaehyun. But he can widen his eyes all he wants; Jaehyun’s no mind reader.

Donghyuck bites on his lip. "O...okay."

Jaehyun grins and claps his hands together. "Great! Leave it to me."

He feels like he could run a three-minute mile. This is the best idea he's ever had.

— 

"This is the worst idea you've ever had." Jaehyun probably didn't need to have Jungwoo go all the way home with him, but for caution's sake he lets him follow him inside as Jaehyun heads directly for the kitchen. He pulls a blank notepad out of the drawer and starts writing.

"No, this is going to work out great," he assures Jungwoo. "Donghyuck will go on these dates, and he'll fall for one of them and forget about this 'back-up plan' thing completely." 

"Dates? One of them? Jaehyun. No. What?" Jungwoo puts his hands on the table. "Really, no."

Jaehyun's pen continues to scratch along. "You should be on board with this! The faster he falls for one of them, the sooner you can stop pretending we're dating." 

Jungwoo is momentarily silent. "I'm sorry? My part here is already done. One hour," he says, "which is over."

There's an apologetic quality to his smile, he hopes, when Jaehyun glances up. "Yeah...about that. I think I'm going to need this favor a little longer?" 

Jungwoo crosses his arms. "How long." 

"Mm....maybe, three weeks?" 

"No." 

Fuck. He's finished without Jungwoo. "Two weeks?"

A grimace covers Jungwoo's lips. Jaehyun stops scribbling and gets on his knees. 

"Please. Jungwoo. I have no one but you." 

"Wrong. You don't even have me. But, I will do two weeks. First!" He holds up a finger. "Because I like you on the floor like this."

Jaehyun sighs. 

"And second, because you're going to treat me to a lot of your home cooking. Third, because I want to see how this plays out, due to the fact that I like Donghyuck." 

"Okay, I can live with those conditions." Jaehyun starts to rise. Jungwoo shakes his head.

"You can write on the floor, I think." 

Jaehyun returns his knee to the linoleum. "Okay," he says, "So. First, you remember the clerk at the hardware store?" 

Confusion crowds Jungwoo's brow. "Mark?" 

Jaehyun snaps his fingers. "Yeah. I got to know him, he's really sweet."

"Okay." 

"A really good guy, and so cute you know? Those cheekbones could snag anyone. He'll laugh at everything Donghyuck says, too." Jaehyun draws a line under Mark's name, and looks up at Jungwoo, who wears a small frown. 

"So why," asks Jungwoo, "aren't _you_ dating him?"`

Jaehyun shakes a hand. "This isn't about me." Mostly. "This is about Donghyuck, and finding him the love of his life. Mark, I think, is a great choice. But if not..." The paper holds three more names below 'Mark Lee' and among them Jaehyun feels confident he has a winner.

Jungwoo makes a disgruntled noise and leaves Jaehyun to rifle through his fridge instead. "And what if these guys aren't interested?" 

Jaehyun gets up from the floor and spreads his list on the table. "Look, this is Donghyuck. You said it yourself, you already like him."

"Uh-huh." Jungwoo cracks a sparkling water and gives him a blank look. 

"Nobody says no to him, trust me. I promise you, someone will end up in love with him." 

Jungwoo says nothing and sips his drink, and Jaehyun pulls up Mark's number in his phone.

— 

It takes one call to Mark and one text to Donghyuck for Jaehyun to set up the date. There's a funny buzz under his skin once it's all scheduled—Mark seemed excited, and Donghyuck sends back a thumbs-up emoji to the photo Jaehyun included. 

_Cute._ The text says.

It feels like a confirmation of Jaehyun's appraisal. Mark is cute, very cute. A different kind of look; Jaehyun himself feels more handsome, but different people fit different adjectives better. It's not a contest. 

_lmk how it goes!_ Jaehyun sends back. 

The date isn't till the next evening, but it's out of Jaehyun's hands from this point onward. 

He thinks about it at least once an hour until the time arrives. He hopes Donghyuck wears that soft yellow shirt he has. That would give off the right vibe. Not that Donghyuck ever really needs to try.

But still, keys to success. And Jaehyun can't recall Mark ever being anything but sweet, but he just hopes he hasn't suddenly changed. If he was randomly mean... Should Jaehyun be worried? No. No, Mark's nice. He’ll be a good date for Donghyuck. Jaehyun's just anxious because he has a lot riding on this. He feels responsible. If this works, they both end up better for it. 

The hour arrives when Donghyuck is supposed to meet Mark, and Jaehyun's phone feels heavy in his pocket. He keeps patting it, sure he felt it vibrate, but no.

After ten minutes, he texts Donghyuck. 

[ ](https://postimg.cc/DJ46r1bZ)

A minutes passes.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/FktZD1jx)

Another minute.

He texts Jungwoo instead. 

[ ](https://postimg.cc/fSxvFZCQ)

Jaehyun huffs and puts his phone down. He has work that came home with him from the firm anyway, that he should really focus on for the next morning. After a few hours of paperwork, Jaehyun sits back and caps his pen, and lets himself glance at his phone. It hasn't made a sound since he started working, and Jaehyun just wishes he could be a fly on the wall.

— 

He doesn't hear from Donghyuck till he's at work the next day, checking his phone while refilling his coffee in the lunchroom. 

[ ](https://postimg.cc/BX0pFLZS)

Jaehyun hits the call button. "So," he starts as soon as Donghyuck picks up, "you like him? You're going out again?" 

Donghyuck laughs.

"Hyung," he says, "Mark was really nice. It was a good time. But I don't think he's for me."

Jaehyun switches his phone to the other ear and stirs his coffee. "Why not?”

"I don't know. Just didn't feel it? He's...too short for me."

Then it's Jaehyun's turn to laugh.

He stands a little straighter, pulling his shoulders back. "That's it?"

"We're not a match, okay?"

"Okay," Jaehyun concedes. His coworker enters the room, strolling behind Jaehyun to lean down and pull a water bottle from the fridge. "No worries, I have someone else."

Donghyuck breathes into the phone a bit. "Alright, send me the details when you have them."

"Will do."

Jaehyun hangs up and tucks his phone away, taking a long sip of coffee and watching his very tall coworker twist the bottle open. When he looks Jaehyun's way, Jaehyun smiles.

"Hey, Johnny," he says, "are you free any night this week?"

Johnny pauses and raises an eyebrow at Jaehyun. There's a tease of a smile in the corners of his lips.

"What do you have in mind?"

— 

Donghyuck's date with Johnny is set for Thursday night. A classic dinner and movie, and Jaehyun let Johnny know to pick a lame rom-com knowing it's what will hook Donghyuck best. Donghyuck pretending he's not melting inside over cheesy romance lines is one of his best looks.

"The cinema is close to my place," Jaehyun tells Donghyuck, "you know the one. Why don't you come over after and tell me how it went?"

He agrees, so Jaehyun texts Jungwoo to come as well and play boyfriend, which Jungwoo agrees to conditional on being made dinner.

The day of, Jaehyun makes sure to talk Donghyuck up to Johnny while they work.

"He'll probably come off guarded and sarcastic at first," he says, "but that's just his first date armor. Inside is all like, teddy bears and doe eyes. He's one-hundred percent the romantic type."

Johnny leans against Jaehyun's desk, tapping his chin.

"I see, that's sweet. He doesn't sound like the type I'd expect to find single."

"I know, right? You're pretty lucky. Don't fuck it up, man," Jaehyun jokes, and they both laugh a little. 

Johnny winks. "I'll do my best."

Jungwoo shows up at six and is inside Jaehyun's apartment before Jaehyun knows he's there, which would surprise Jaehyun if he had ever bothered to update his front door passcode; he's pretty sure he's had it set to the same thing for nearly ten years, give or take two. Much easier to keep the same code between moves for his own memory's sake, and the list of people who know it is neither long enough nor dangerous enough to warrant consistent updating in his opinion. All ones whose presence he typically enjoys anyway.

It's convenient too, since all his concentration lies in the Pad Kee Mao he's stirring on the stove. 

Jungwoo makes his presence known by poking his head over Jaehyun's shoulder and inhaling noisily.

"God, that smells so good."

Jaehyun chuckles. "You think with your stomach."

"And I'm always right. I brought wine. When does the invisible show start?"

The wok sizzles when Jaehyun lifts it and flicks his wrist to toss the noodles. "Show?"

"Mm," Jungwoo hums, and Jaehyun hears a cork pop. "What time does Donghyuck walk into the restaurant, catch sight of John Suh—of Suh and Associates, esteemed Attorneys at Law—and immediately fall hopelessly in love?"

Jaehyun huffs a laugh. "Donghyuck doesn't work like that," he says, but feels a pang of doubt. He is pretty sure it's not that easy, but Johnny _is_ very handsome and suave.

"More likely Johnny will fall first."

Jungwoo winds a glass of something red around Jaehyun to set on the counter in his reach. "Hm. Really? I guess you know him better than I do, but I feel like the vibes I got from Johnny at that work part of yours were...a bit different."

Putting down his spatula, Jaehyun lifts the glass and tries fruitlessly to read Jungwoo's expression. "Different?"

"I'll be interested to see if Donghyuck is his type after all," says Jungwoo cryptically. 

"I guess we'll see."

They take big bowls of drunken noodles to the living room and as they're sitting Jaehyun feels his pocket vibrate. He pulls out his phone mid sip of wine.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/crBmBx6Q)

Jaehyun frowns. That doesn't fit his knowledge of Johnny.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/XrNg2Ryt)

He sets his glass down and calls Johnny's personal cell. "Hey, are you at the restaurant?"

"I'm here. Is something wrong?"

"No, no. He just can't find you. Walk out front?"

"Sure."

Jaehyun waits, hearing Johnny's expensive shoes click in the background and murmuring voices.

Then, "Ahh. Found him."

A feeling kind of like relief. "Great."

Johnny hums. "He's really thirty? He looks..."

"I told you he's pretty."

"That you did. See you later, Jaehyun.”

With the call ended, Jaehyun stares at the phone in his hands for a few long moments, until a bowl and glass replace it.

Jungwoo makes sure Jaehyun has both properly gripped before settling into the couch. "Star-crossed lovers find each other?"

"Yeah."

"Want to watch a movie?"

They put on something Jaehyun hasn't seen yet and finish off most of the noodles, and all of the wine, and it must be stronger than Jaehyun had realized because he definitely feels decently tipsy by the time they start the movie's sequel, still with time to kill on their hands.

He doesn't mind that Jungwoo has at some point melted down the couch and repurposed Jaehyun's leg as his pillow, far too relaxed and amused by the movie. He idly wonders what Johnny and Donghyuck decided to see, and whether it's funny like this one, if they're laughing, or if it's something sweeter, the kind of thing that makes Donghyuck's face redden in the dark theater where Johnny could easily tuck him under his arm or hold his hand.

Jaehyun misses his mouth slightly on his next sip, several drops ending up on his chin and on Jungwoo's temple.

Jungwoo turns his head to frown up at him. "Are you a child?" he asks, swiping wine off his skin with the side of his hand.

He sort of feels like one, so Jaehyun just winks, shrugs, wipes his chin.

"God you know, when I first met you I thought you were so suave and cool. What happened."

"Whoops," giggles Jaehyun.

Jungwoo sighs.

He reaches up and pinches Jaehyun's cheek, right over his dimple. "Yeah. Whoops." After a moment he stops, and rolls off the couch onto his feet. "I'm going to get us some water. Don't worry about pausing it, I'll be right back."

"M'okay."

Jungwoo sits upright when he returns.

The movie isn't quite over when the front door beeps and clicks. Jaehyun snatches the remote from between himself and Jungwoo and goes to turn the tv off, but Jungwoo stops him.

"What are you doing? We're watching a movie like boyfriends do," he whispers sternly, scooting close.

"Oh, right. Of course," Jaehyun whispers back, throwing an arm around Jungwoo's waist.

Donghyuck enters the room a few moments later, peeking in cautiously before shuffling to the couch's open end.

"Have a good time?" Jaehyun asks, keeping his gaze carefully on the screen.

Jungwoo's elbow wedges purposefully into his ribs, not jabbing but like a reminder.

He's silent at first, then Donghyuck ruffles his hair back and blows out a breath. "We're going out again on Saturday," he says, "to the botanical gardens."

Jaehyun sits a little taller and lets himself look at Donghyuck. Is that hesitance in his voice? It's hard to tell with his head still a little spinny. But Donghyuck is looking at him too. He must be silently asking for Jaehyun's validation of this decision, as the mutual friend.

"That sounds fun," says Jaehyun, though he thinks it might not be his choice for a date, and isn't sure he can recall Donghyuck being the garden sort, "so he's pretty charming, right? Well-off, too."

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. "Now you just sound like my mother."

Jaehyun's mouth snaps shut and Jungwoo must nearly burst a lung laughing so abruptly. It definitely isn't funny, though.

"I'm amazed you've put up with this much already," Jungwoo tells Donghyuck. "But that's what you do for a good friend, right?"

"Actually, I am not sure why I agreed to this. But hey, Johnny is cool, and you're right, Jaehyun hyung, he's rich and sexy. What more could I want? You've given me the jackpot, I guess."

That seems overly generous. "Well, I'm not sure I'd go _that_ far," Jaehyun mumbles.

Avoiding looking at Donghyuck, Jaehyun glances around his upscale apartment instead, the carefully chosen decor and furnishings, until his gaze brings him around to Jungwoo, who blinks at him expectantly.

"How far _will_ you go?" he asks, under this breath.

Jaehyun frowns.

"What was that?" says Donghyuck.

Jungwoo shakes his head and smiles. "Just, it's time for me to go."

"You're not staying here?"

"Oh honey." Jungwoo stands and stretches, catlike, then leans to pat Donghyuck's cheek. "No. Early work mornings and such. Can't have this one—“ he points at Jaehyun, "—keeping me up till all hours, _tempting_ as it would be."

Jaehyun can't see Jungwoo's face, but from Donghyuck's raised eyebrows and cough, he can imagine the wink present there.

"Okay, out of my house," Jaehyun orders, secondarily adding, "both of you."

Donghyuck groans and takes the hand Jungwoo offers to help pull him up. Jungwoo then slings an arm over his shoulder and ruffles his hair.

"All the flirting tire you out? Cute," he coos with a squeeze of Donghyuck’s shoulders, which Jaehyun thinks sounds pretty flirtatious too.

Not that it matters, since Jungwoo isn't a threat. Er, he isn't on the list or single. Wait. He is single. Isn't he?

Jaehyun puts his hand to his forehead.

"Alright, baby?" Jungwoo asks sweetly.

"Yeah, just tired, wine's getting to me. Get out already so I can go to bed."

They finally do leave, Jungwoo chattering away with Donghyuck as he goes, and Jaehyun cleans the kitchen to clear his head. He doesn't know what they mean; his cleaning is perfectly decent.

As he goes to bed, Jaehyun reminds himself that _he's_ the single one, on purpose.

— 

Work is busy enough the next day, and Jaehyun's head hurts enough that he rolls through most of the hours in a half-blind haze of legal documents and coffee. He's legitimately startled when Johnny takes a seat on his desk, arms folded over his smart tie and wearing a grin.

"If you're here about the Chae deposition, I have nothing for you yet," Jaehyun says.

"Not about that. Quite the date you sent me on, last night."

Jaehyun pushes his chair back and takes off his glasses, folding them. "Did you expect less from me?"

Johnny chuckles. "Hardly."

"Donghyuck is great," he adds. "You were right about the sarcasm, but it's refreshing. He loosened up eventually. And I'm taking him to the gardens tomorrow."

"He told me. Better bring an extra scarf if it’s chilly like the forecast says, he always forgets and complains about being cold."

Johnny nods and hums.

He taps his fingers on his arm. "Jaehyun, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Jaehyun replies, twisting in his chair gently.

"Aren't you single right now?"

Jaehyun stops twisting. "Uh, sort of."

"I...see. You know, when you asked me the other day, I actually thought you were asking me to go out with _you_. The set-up surprised me."

Vague anxiety crawls down Jaehyun's arms. It's not like he'd never considered dating Johnny, he'd just been...dating other people. And something about work relationships made him stressed. If something went wrong, or things ended, he still had to see that person every day. Would have to see _Johnny_ every day.

"Oh." He straightens his tie. "I'm sorry for misleading you."

"It's alright. Would've been nice."

Jaehyun's stomach develops something hard like a peach pit right in the middle. "Shit. I'm _really_ sorry."

"No, it's _fine,"_ Johnny urges. "I am enjoying the alternative. And I can tell you care about Donghyuck a lot, to set up dates for him when you're also single."

Well yes, of course Jaehyun cares about Donghyuck. They've been friends of one kind or another for nearly ten years. He's the longest standing person in Jaehyun's life, probably, and he doesn't expect that will change soon.

"I guess I do. We've been together for a long time."

Johnny looks at him for a few long moments. Finally, he unfolds his arms and claps his hands together. "Well! Good talk. Unfortunately, they don't pay me the obscene amount they do here to sit and talk to you about whether and who we're friends with or fucking. Catch you later."

He gives Jaehyun a wink, then saunters off, leaving the general hum of busy office noise to fill the space.

Jaehyun slides his chair slowly back to his desk, feeling odd, like all his blood has gone room temperature.

Who said anything about fucking?

— 

When Jaehyun gets home that evening, he feels like he's been run through a printing press and come out stamped and flattened, so tired he's aching, and his hands are stiff from writing. He makes it as far as his couch before collapsing with a groan.

The soft leather promises to allow him some rest, but Jaehyun's mind doesn't. It keeps replaying his conversation with Johnny, comparing it to the night previous. He can't recall how long it was before Donghyuck dropped by, if there was enough time for _things_ to happen.

He blames the wine for his lack of mental clarity. But he doesn't think Jungwoo was as drunk as he'd been.

Jaehyun texts, trying to recall just how Donghyuck looked, but his memory won't give him answers. He sends another text. A series of them.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/Mcvmw15D)

Jaehyun sighs. The idea just _bothers_ him.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/FdSbdm2k)

Tossing his phone on the couch in front of his face, Jaehyun gives up. There's no stopping Jungwoo anyway when he makes a decision, so Jaehyun just lets himself doze off while he waits.

"Hey, Jaehyun."

Someone nudges his shoulder, breaking him out of a dream. Jaehyun mumbles something even he isn't sure of and pushes up on his elbow to find Jungwoo crouching there, holding a cup of tea.

"Hi there. Sit up, have this."

Jaehyun obeys, rediscovering his aches.

The tea is hot, but not too much to drink, and chamomile soothes his nerves quickly.

Jungwoo takes a seat beside him. "While you drink, I am going to tell you some things that I'm not sure why you don't seem to know, and I'd like you to listen."

Still drowsy, Jaehyun nods.

"Lovely. Jaehyun, sometimes, when we like or care about someone really, really a lot, it can be frightening. And it can be hard to know what to do, because of all the 'what if's, the uncertainties from that fear. So we end up picking the safe option, the option that keeps them around with what we think is the least amount of risk for pain. We choose to stay as their coworker, their friend, their whatever, rather than committing to the effort that the chance of more will require of us. Are you following me so far?"

Mouth warm with tea, Jaehyun nods again.

"Good." Jungwoo continues, "Sometimes we even do try, and then back out when it looks like things are getting too serious and the danger seems to increase. But it doesn't mean we can't have a second chance, especially for someone who means a lot to us. Understand?"

"Sure."

Jungwoo smiles and smoothes his palms on his knees. "Good! So what I'm saying is, sometimes things we thought had to be over, don't have to be. And it's okay to still care for someone and be open to take another chance with them. Especially if they offer an opportunity."

Jaehyun turns the warm mug in his hands, considering. This isn't really what he expected Jungwoo to say to him tonight, but maybe he needs to hear it. If he lets things go on the way they're going now, he could regret it more down the road. So he's thankful for the topic raised.

"You're right, 'Woo," he admits. The mug clicks softly as he sets it down. "Thanks for coming to talk to me about this."

There's such a delighted warmth in Jungwoo's eyes, Jaehyun feels bad.

"But I don't know if this is the best time for us to talk about getting back together."

When Jaehyun looks at him again, Jungwoo has his eyes closed.

"'Woo, I—“

"No, shh. I'm taking a moment."

Jaehyun waits, giving Jungwoo all the time he needs. It's the least he can do.

"Jaehyun," Jungwoo finally says, voice weary. "I wasn't talking about us."

"Oh. Then I don't think I know what we're talking about. Unless it's Johnny? But you know how I feel about dating coworkers."

"Yes, I know. So I want you to think about what I said, and why the idea of Johnny and Donghyuck being together is bothering you so much."

Jaehyun leans back into the couch and chews on the inside of his lip. The thing he knows about Jungwoo is that, no matter how often he jokes or is so dryly sarcastic it almost seems serious, when he's truly serious it's impossible to miss. 

Jungwoo means this.

"You will think about it, won't you?"

"I'll think about it," promises Jaehyun.

Jungwoo smiles and gets up. "Alright, then I'm going back home."

Bed is absolutely calling his name, so Jaehyun stands too, and maybe it's the mood of the moment, or just old habits, but Jungwoo steps over and gives Jaehyun a quick, tight hug. When he pulls back, he frames Jaehyun's face with his hands. "Goodnight, Jaehyun," he says.

Jaehyun can't help laughing. He's pretty sure it should be more awkward. Maybe they're too old for that. "Goodnight."

— 

He keeps his promise to think about it, starting the very next day. It's actually impossible not to think about it, considering that he knows the garden date is happening. Outside, the sky blurs grey and a nipping breeze darts through the trees.

Whether perusing the garden in those conditions would even be nice, Jaehyun wonders. He's only been there once, and the weather was good then, but he doesn't imagine it's the same when the air is this abnormally chilly for the season.

Errands demand Jaehyun's attention for most of the day.

While he does them—picking up groceries, buying a new bathroom light bulb, dropping off dry cleaning—Jaehyun tries to decipher Jungwoo's meaning. He doesn't think Jungwoo is aware that Johnny expressed interest in Jaehyun, but then again Jungwoo's very perceptive, so maybe.

But, Jaehyun isn't sure he really considers choosing not to date his co-workers, especially ones higher ranking than himself, the same type of thing.

A mean rush of wind swats at Jaehyun as he's entering the post office, and as soon as he gets inside he pulls out his phone.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/tnH3FwjS)

He messages Donghyuck, a vision of the garden half iced-over filling his mind.

He has just handed over his package for sending when he gets the response.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/3d1XDtb1)

Jaehyun stops in the doorway.

The whole trip home is a blur and Jaehyun still doesn't know what he would text back, having stopped himself from just calling Donghyuck on the spot. He's not sure what he would have said if Donghyuck picked up; worse, he's not sure what he would have done if Donghyuck _hadn't._

Pacing around his apartment does him no good, so Jaehyun takes a seat on the chair on his small balcony and tries to name the feeling under his skin.

No matter how he looks at it, he keeps coming back to the same one, which he hasn't felt often, and recognizes it for its rarity.

Jaehyun sighs.

He's jealous.

There's no other feeling that sums up the vague fear, anxiety, more than a little annoyance, and insecurity.

He's never been really privy to the romantic lives of either Johnny or Donghyuck before when it didn't involve him, though.

So, more accurately, he must be _envious._ He's the one sitting there, single by choice yes, but with a front row seat to a cherry blossom new romance. Because neither of them are his, and he knows that jealousy is over something you have, while envy is over something you don't.

So he _can't_ be jealous.

Only, all the emotions fit that, and don't quite align with envy.

Jaehyun hisses out a groan of frustration and drops his forehead against the cold metal of the balcony railing.

What the hell.

Being jealous of Johnny makes no sense.

He's only known of Johnny's interest for a day, not nearly enough to feel possessive or really think of Johnny that way. And as far as Donghyuck, well, they've been over for so long that to be jealous of him being with someone else would make Jaehyun the worst kind of ex.

Their relationship is only historical, even if Donghyuck never really left his life, even if at times they fell into one another's beds, easily like falling into their own, and just as easily left again.

Even if...they made plans for the future together, however conditional.

Jaehyun straightens to look out over the street. He sucks in a deep breath and folds his hand over his mouth, the other hanging loose between his knees.

He must be insane. They're not together. It was some foolish old promise, made when they were young and stupid. A joke.

But there was Donghyuck, freshly thirty and as bright as the noonday sun, coming to sit on Jaehyun's couch and sing Bruno Mars to him. He didn't even take the time to ask if Hyuck was serious...but surely he couldn't have been.

Either way, Jaehyun has no right, now, to butt in.

It's in this state of personal bad weather that Jaehyun does what he usually does when he's come to understand something unpleasant: he cooks.

But also because he'd gone to the store specifically for minestrone ingredients on this dreary day, and he's still craving it.

The lengthy process of vegetable-chopping and broth-simmering to craft the perfect soup occupies Jaehyun's brain for a long enough period that by the time it's ready, he's calmed somewhat on the whole emotional turmoil thing. He can maybe sit down, eat his dinner, and relax some.

Or he could have, if it weren't for the quick knocks on his door followed by it opening on its own, and Donghyuck toeing off his shoes while Jaehyun stands with a steaming bowl in his hands and pure confusion on his face.

"Hello?" he tries.

Donghyuck's momentum carries him right up toe-to-toe with Jaehyun, where he stops only to bend and inhale deeply right over Jaehyun's dinner.

"Oh my god," Donghyuck moans, "I could smell it from the hallway. I just _knew_ you would make this today, with how gross it is outside."

"Feed me? I want it so bad," he adds, not waiting for Jaehyun to agree before he practically runs to the kitchen. Jaehyun can only follow and watch as Donghyuck helps himself to a generous several ladles of soup. But Jaehyun always makes enough for more than one person, anyway.

Donghyuck doesn't even take the time to sit, simply grabbing a spoon and tucking right in, wriggling his shoulders in glee at the first bite.

Lifting his spoon more slowly, Jaehyun tries to figure out why Donghyuck is even there.

"Didn't you have dinner plans?" he asks.

He receives a head-shake in response while Donghyuck chews. "Not really. Johnny's food taste is a little...minimalist, for me. I can appreciate five courses of small servings once or twice, but this—” he points his spoon into the soup “—this is what I really want. Hearty."

"Can't disagree with you there," Jaehyun admits. "You should probably tell him you have different meal preferences, though."

Donghyuck leans against the counter, keeping close to the soup pot, and shrugs. "Not necessary. I don't think we're going to keep seeing each other."

Jaehyun doesn't like how that news makes his heart jump. 

"You're not?"

"No, it's just like...well, he's a little too..." Donghyuck purses his lips, smacks them. "I guess, dominant? You know what I mean."

"Feel free not to explain." Jaehyun does not want to know details.

Donghyuck's laugh rings in the kitchen, filling the spaces under the open shelving. "Sure, sure."

He keeps eating, and Jaehyun does as well, but much slower. He doesn't know what to do. Is this the kind of moment when he can ask an old ex-partner if their sudden marriage proposal was serious?

Is there any right moment for that?

"Anyway," Donghyuck goes on a moment later, "who's up next? Who else have you got? I think I'm getting into the swing of this, it's kind of fun. And Johnny was close! My whole next week is open, so get me my next date, hyung."

Jaehyun takes a seat at the eat-in table and swirls the contents of his bowl with his spoon, trying to keep his face neutral. 

"That's what you want?"

Donghyuck nods enthusiastically, slurping broth. "Why stop now?"

"Both my earlier tries were misses, though."

"Yeah, but I had fun. So unless your next pick is an objectively bad person, I at least can expect to have a good time."

"You're sure?" Jaehyun presses. If it's really what Donghyuck wants...

Donghyuck laughs and sets down his bowl to pour himself some water from the pitcher on the table. He leans towards Jaehyun as he does, eyebrows raised and goading. "What, are you chickening out on your own challenge?"

"No, I have someone else," replies Jaehyun. "I'll give him a call." He can't help feeling he is chickening out in a different way, though.

Jaehyun watches Donghyuck tilt his head back and gulp down water, and suddenly feels twenty-four again, honed-in to Donghyuck's every move, trying to think of ways to write his own name on them so he won't lose any, just as nervous about what it means if he manages to do it.

"Great," says Donghyuck. "Now tell me you have some tupperware that I can use to steal more of this."

He does, and Jaehyun ladles half the rest of his soup into a big container, keeping his gaze on the task even while he asks the other question on his mind.

"Do you have to get home? I was going to watch that new comedy with Kim Gongmyoung in it. If you're interested."

He secures the lid on Donghyuck's takeaway and puts it on the table, finally turning his eyes to him, and Donghyuck has his hands pocketed, leaning in the doorframe.

The smile he wears is small, but warm.

"Well, it is Saturday night. What kind of a loser would I be if I went home to hangout alone with my soup?"

Jaehyun flattens his own mouth. "Hey, I resemble that remark."

Donghyuck winks. "Oh so well. But yeah, I'd love to watch that."

With the movie playing and Donghyuck having tucked all but one of the couch pillows around himself in some manner, Jaehyun lets the film blur into background noise around his thoughts.

It's the third time in about a week that Donghyuck has been there, on his couch, and Jaehyun finding he doesn't look as out-of-place there as he should. It's not exactly the same way he used to look; despite all he _has_ matured, more confidence in his eyes and the youthful skinniness replaced by filled-out lines.

But Jungwoo's words keep coming back to Jaehyun's mind.

That something he thought had to be over, might not have to be. That he could be presented with a second chance.

He just thinks he might have fumbled the opportunity.

— 

Jaehyun keeps his promise and contacts the next name on his list the following day. He actually doesn't call, but digs up his login for the online gaming forum he used to be more active in and scrolls through his friend list. He _could_ call him, but he knows this is faster.

His status shows as online. Jaehyun opens their chat from a few months ago.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/fSjxCCWw)

Jaehyun sighs. There goes that hope.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/pmdDQKwH)

Kunhang sends back a series of very enthusiastic gifs, and so Jaehyun sets up another date for Donghyuck the next Tuesday. Kunhang agrees to meet him at a PC cafe, which blessedly isn't a dark cinema or flower garden.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/njq7V2Dv)

Donghyuck texts back when Jaehyun sends him the details./p>

[ ](https://postimg.cc/2LwZh5Ty)

This does not make Jaehyun feel better about it as Tuesday approaches. Even seeing Johnny at work is a little weird; Jaehyun is constantly a little concerned Johnny will ask him about it all and Jaehyun won't know how to answer. Luckily, Johnny seems too preoccupied to talk, which leaves Jaehyun free to remember the racing videogames he and Hyuck played while dating, the winner prized with kisses.

By Tuesday evening, Jaehyun breaks down and calls Jungwoo again.

"So what if, hypothetically, I still had feelings for Donghyuck," he says.

Jungwoo lets out a deep sigh. "Have you told him?"

"No, actually, I set him up on another date. Tonight."

Jungwoo sighs deeper.

"Make some bibimbap. I'll be over in a little while."

They sit on the floor on either side of the coffee table once Jungwoo arrives, a big bowl between them although Jaehyun hardly touches it.

"So where is he now?" Jungwoo asks.

"PC cafe with Kunhang."

"Kunhang! How is he?! That guy is _so_ fun," gushes Jungwoo.

"Yeah, and good-looking."

"Very! He'd be a blast to go out with!"

"I'm sure Donghyuck is having a great time..."

"Oh for sure, he..." Jungwoo pauses, eyeing Jaehyun. "This isn't helping, is it."

"Not particularly."

"Ok." Jungwoo moves the bowl aside, and leans onto his forearms on the table. "Jaehyun, I have my guesses, but could you maybe tell me why you and Donghyuck broke up in the first place? I just want to understand your relationship better, then maybe I can help."

Jaehyun tugs a hand through his hair and shakes it all out, trying to think back far enough to relevant information. He's a process-oriented person, so he starts at the beginning, as best as he can identify it. 

They met while Jaehyun was still in law school.

At his internship, actually. Jaehyun's time at the family law practice was mostly characterized by eternal paper filing and managing the appeals deadline calendar, and then one neon sky day where a young freelance journalist walked in, freshly degreed, to interview the partners. 

And the two hours Jaehyun was asked to wait with Lee Donghyuck in one of the mediation rooms while they conferred as to whether they would submit to it.

"You work here?" Donghyuck had asked, skimming his fingers over the digests on the table along the wall.

"Internship.”

"Do you know this practice's statistics on child support disputes?"

He knew some. "Sorry, I can't officially answer questions."

Donghyuck had nodded and not asked anything more, but when he was granted the interview Jaehyun had watched through the glass door with interest.

When it was over, his bosses looked wrung out.

Jaehyun walked Donghyuck out of the office, at the door of which Donghyuck stopped and asked, "Can I ask you something? Unofficially?"

"Don't see why not."

Donghyuck had tossed him a wry grin. "Are you free on Friday night?"

Jungwoo pauses Jaehyun's story to laugh. "Why am I not surprised that Donghyuck made the first move."

"I only said yes because well, clearly he's handsome, but also I needed to know what in those two hours of near silence made him think we should go on a date."

Jungwoo wheezes.

Jaehyun smiles fondly.

Donghyuck had come into his life hot and fast, literally, and taken up Jaehyun's free time not spent bent over law textbooks or in back office rooms, and it worked well because while Jaehyun studied Donghyuck wrote his articles or his food blog.

And when neither of them could see straight without imagining crosswords on the walls, Donghyuck was the one with some kind of plan to refresh them.

Always the plans.

Which Jaehyun loved to be a part of, following Donghyuck down side-streets to hidden diners, driving out to the seaside for one-night whirlwind camping trips, systematically trying out every mom&pop coffee shop in the city.

For two years.

Here, Jungwoo holds up a hand. "Hold on. Wait a minute. You were together for two years?"

"Yes, that's right." Jaehyun nods.

"Jaehyun, that's a long time."

"I know it is. It was long enough for me to realize I had no plans that weren't the most obvious ones, or were even really mine, and that he had so many and wanted so much. I didn't know what I wanted at all, other than to finish my degree."

"But how did you feel about him?" Jungwoo asks, with all the care of someone lifting a baby chick back into its pen.

Jaehyun looks at his hands on the table. "At the time? Something between obsessed with him and terrified of him. He wanted to get married, I could tell by how he talked. He knew so young and I...it wasn't just that I didn't know for myself, which I didn't, but also my job and all my studying? Forty some hours per week of divorce statistics, grounds for marriage termination, et cetera."

Jungwoo winces. "Oh. Right."

"Going into this field isn't exactly romantically encouraging."

"No, I guess not. I wondered about that before, how you managed...but knowing two examples now, I am seeing that you didn't."

Jaehyun shoots Jungwoo a look. "Thanks for that."

"Sorry." Jungwoo pats his hand. "But how are you still friends? I can't envision how that didn't end awfully."

"I think he knew," says Jaehyun, "that I wasn't right for him. Not for the timeline of what he wanted. Getting my degree didn't give me a new vision for life, other than that I had enlistment ahead of me still. And that was what did it, I think. He'd already done his, and with my degree I had three years to look forward to. So I told him I didn't think I could do three years of long distance dates, but that having a friend I could do."

The metal bowl makes a tinny sound when Jungwoo drags it back into reach and shovels a spoonful of rice and veggies into his mouth. "I'm comfort eating, right now," he says through his food. "And I thought the way you broke up with me was lame. God."

Jaehyun can only sigh.

"I don't know why he wasn't furious with me," he admits. "I wasted two years of his plan, then told him I wanted to be friends. But he agreed. He agreed and laughed and said, 'ok, but if we're both still single when I turn thirty, let's get married then.' Our back up plan."

Jungwoo makes an incredulous sound, mouth opening a little grotesquely.

"I only agreed because I was _sure_ he'd be married by the time I finished enlistment, and if not then shortly after. And then I forgot about it completely until he showed up here the other week."

"When you panicked and called me. I don't know if I feel better or more annoyed about that now."

Jungwoo's hand is warm when Jaehyun folds it inside his own. "Thank you for not hanging up on me."

"Oh, don't do that. We can reflect on my weakness later. Now, _you_ need a plan."

"But, I still don't know what I want. My first reaction to him bringing this plan up was a lie so I could get out of it."

"Jaehyun," Jungwoo asks, "are you happy when you see him? When you spend time together?"

"Usually, yes." Nine and half times out of ten, he'd say.

"Then why not try to grasp that happiness?"

"Because globally almost fifty percent of—” 

Jungwoo shushes him. "I don't know if you're able to see, but in the last almost ten years it seems like neither of you has let the other get very far away. And you know more about each other than half the married couples I know. Jaehyun," Jungwoo looks him right in the eyes. "I know you know all the reasons a relationship can end. But why not let yourself discover all the thousands more that two people can be together for life?"

Jaehyun swallows. To say he feels a familiar terror would only partially cover it.

"He's on a date, right now."

"No offense, Jae dear, but you're kind of a terrible matchmaker."

This pulls a nervous laugh from Jaehyun as he stretches his legs out under the corner of the table.

"True. Hopefully I failed again, huh?"

"Yes, miserably." Jungwoo claps his hands and rubs them together. "Now, let's get this plan figured out."

— 

Jungwoo's plan is very simple, and for that Jaehyun is grateful, because he thinks that if it were more complex he would just overthink it to death.

But no, it is just one step, unfortunately one very frightening step that Jaehyun only gets a scant several hours to prepare for.

Because Donghyuck texts him the next day just as Jaehyun is on his way back to the office from a lunch meeting with a client, announcing that he's bringing coffee to the office.

Jaehyun tells him he'll be waiting outside, which gives him ten minutes or so to gather his courage.

"Step one," Jungwoo had said, "whatever the result of his date, when you talk to Donghyuck next you're going to tell him you want to be the one dating him."

"God. Okay."

"Great. That's it."

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's the whole plan."

"What if he tells me 'no?'"

Jungwoo had nodded sagely. "Then you take him at his word the way he took you at yours. But I suggest that you tell him really clearly and honestly, so that you have the best chance of a positive response."

Preparing for this makes Jaehyun sweat, and it's not just the sun.

Or, it is the sun, walking toward him from the subway exit carrying a cup holder with two iced drinks in clear plastic cups, all his teeth showing in a smile as wide as the sky.

And Jaehyun does want to be the one with Donghyuck, enough to tell him so even if his date was great.

He leans back against the warm concrete of the raised planter separating the sidewalk from the building's entrance, setting his attaché bag atop it and not minding the ferns that tickle at his elbows.

"Delivery!" Donghyuck quips, wiggling the coffee teasingly.

He reaches Jaehyun and plucks one iced drink out to hand to him. Jaehyun doesn't have to guess that it's an Americano; if there's one thing Donghyuck knows beyond a doubt, it's that.

Donghyuck's drink has an obvious drizzle of caramel, though, which Jaehyun knows is irregular.

"Trying something new?"

"New cafe. This is their signature drink. I got it so I could review it for my blog. It's good but sweeter than I could do frequently."

"Oh I see. So you weren't actually stopping to get me coffee, it was just an afterthought to your real purpose."

"Lucky you, getting to be my afterthought." Donghyuck leans next to Jaehyun and winks.

Jaehyun purses around his straw. He won't disagree.

"Oh!" Turning to face Jaehyun again, Donghyuck bleeds good mood. "The date! Kunhang is so fucking fun? Holy shit, how is he _your_ friend?"

Coughing on Arabica, Jaehyun levels a humored glare. "Did you bring me an iced drink in advance so you could burn me with insults after?"

"I always prepare."

"It's annoying. Yeah, I know, he's a good time. Are you going to go out ag—” 

Before he can finish, Donghyuck's phone starts ringing, some kpop boy group debut song Jaehyun vaguely recalls from a solid couple of decades ago, and Donghyuck holds up a finger.

"Hold that thought," he says, answering after a quick sip of his coffee.

Jaehyun relaxes as much as he can, letting the cold coffee pool on his tongue.

Then Donghyuck brightens, rolling onto the balls of his feet with enthusiasm. "Oh, Kunhang!" he gives Jaehyun an excited look as he listens. "No, I was wondering when you were going to call!"

The coffee's bitterness suddenly stands out to Jaehyun considerably. Maybe he's not a fan of this roast.

"Yeah, I'll save your number, that'll be more convenient than—ah, haha," Donghyuck laughs, which Jaehyun finds is only the beginning of several minutes of conversation characterized _heavily_ by Donghyuck doubling over in bouts of pure amusement. By the time he finally hangs up, Jaehyun has overheard him sound happier than he can recall from recent memory, and set another time to meet Kunhang.

"Sorry about that," apologizes Donghyuck.

"No problem," says Jaehyun, "you answered my question, anyway."

"Oh? Ah, about going out?"

"Yes, that one."

Donghyuck picks up his drink and leans sideways on the planter. "Not really. We're just meeting up to game, not for another date. We get along better as friends."

Having started the mental prep to confess to Donghyuck under the impression that Kunhang had won him over, Jaheyun's mind spins to a halt, trying desperately to rotate the other direction. His match actually failed again, and now Donghyuck is standing next to him free as a bird.

"Oh, well, hard to get a better friend than him! So, that's um, that's great. Good for you both!"

Donghyuck snorts and sucks on his coffee, rolling his eyes at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun pushes on. "Good. Yeah. In that case, as an alternative, would you consider going out wi—“

Statistically the odds of them _both_ getting phone calls in the few minutes standing there is low, Jaehyun knows, and yet it's his phone this time that loudly cuts Jaehyun off, the ringtone his special one set for when it's his boss calling him personally.

Jaehyun reaches for his bag quickly to get his phone, but knocks the whole thing on the ground instead, his pens and notepads spilling out along with his phone, and they both crouch down to gather the mess. Well, Jaehyun grabs his phone to answer the call, while Donghyuck stops papers from running off in the light breeze.

"Sir, hello," Jaehyun answers. He turns to put a hand on the concrete while he listens, humming acquiescence periodically. In a few brief minutes the call is done, and Jaehyun pockets his phone.

"God, sorry, I just saw a really stressful client and the boss was worrying about it," he says, turning back to find Donghyuck holding one of his notepads and reading with obvious interest. "What have you got?"

Donghyuck is definitely not supposed to see client info, so Jaehyun itches to have it back, but it's even worse than that.

"I can't believe you wrote a list down, _on paper,"_ Donghyuck giggles, turning the pad to show Jaehyun his list of four names.

Mark Lee, Johnny Suh, Wong Kunhang, and— 

"Is this the Wong Yukhei I think it is? The one that was at Doyoung's party a few months ago?"

Jaehyun feels ill. "You met him?"

"Not exactly, more just saw his face and heard his name. There's no way that guy is single, though."

Unfortunately, this Jaehyun knows for sure, and as much as he’d like to lie he doesn’t feel good doing that. “He is actually, he mentioned it to me just the other week. But I was—“

“Hyung.” Donghyuck lays his hand on Jaehyun’s shoulder. “I appreciate the thought, but there’s no way someone like him would go out with me.”

“There’s—what?”

Jaheyun watches, baffled, as Donghyuck scrunches his nose—fuck, that’s still cute—and hums around his coffee straw.

“It’s like,” he says, “I’m sexy in my own circles but he’s universally perfect.”

“Donghyuck, are you implying you don’t think Yukhei would find you hot enough to date?”

“I just think he probably dates models? Not freelance journalists who moonlight in food blogging and get cheese puff dust on their t-shirts sometimes.”

Clearly, Donghyuck doesn't know Yukhei.

Jaehyun wants to swallow his own tie. What the fuck. He should ignore this, it’s _stupid,_ but the idea that Donghyuck has some lack of self-confidence, an insecurity that Jaehyun could denounce and has the means to prove false, if he just—

He can't stop himself. "Want to bet?" Jaehyun raises a brow in challenge at Donghyuck, who scoffs. “I'll bet you dinner he will absolutely go out with you.”

“Yeah okay, smartass. He won’t, though.”

Jaehyun taps out a text.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/94RZKCXg)

Donghyuck tries to lean over his phone, pushing close. “You’re not...oh my god.”

“I am.” Jaehyun turns his shoulder into Donghyuck’s chest, blocking him out should he decide to lunge for the phone.

Luckily, being the social butterfly he is, Yukhei texts back almost instantly.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/4KDVTqmf)

“What’s he saying?”

Jaehyun opens his gallery and picks two of the best photos he has—Hyuck across the bar from Jaehyun, tipsy glow bright from where Jaehyun took the shot, and one from a few months back when he’d just dyed his hair lighter—and sends them to Yukhei. His thumb only hesitates on the send button for a breath.

The answer is quick.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/kR9S2SQL)

A satisfied grin pulls Jaehyun’s dimple out of his cheek. “There,” he says, “he’s in, and you owe me dinner.” 

Donghyuck has his near-empty coffee held in one hand and the other in his jeans pocket, his head tilted at Jaehyun and eyes pensive. “It’s a date, then.”

“Right. I’ll send you details to meet him later, but now,” Jaehyun says, ignoring Donghyuck’s odd sigh and gathering his things, “I have to get back to work before I get my ass handed to me.”

“Is that being offered? I’ll take it.”

Jaehyun gives up on zipping his bag. “What?”

“Never mind. See you, hyung.” Donghyuck bursts out a laugh, quick, then shakes his head and turns, holding a hand up in goodbye as he walks away.

As the elevator up to his office slides past the fourth floor, Jaehyun’s brain, with all the violent suddenness of a pin popping a helium balloon, remembers what he was supposed to tell Donghyuck.

Oh god, he thinks. Jungwoo is going to kill him.

Jungwoo texts Jaehyun that same night, while Jaehyun is reading in bed and trying to ignore his own life.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/5Xjs9cNL)

The book gets dog-eared.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/CdHPmHQB)

Holding his breath, Jaehyun types out his response, vaguely fearing that Jungwoo might have the ability to reach through his phone.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/pps0tVxP)

And Jaehyun does reflect, because Donhyuck walking away is an image he can't get out of his mind. He doesn't want to see it again.

Perhaps, Jaehyun thinks the next day, he can simply message Yukhei back and tell him the date is off, or that Donghyuck has really bad breath, or even just _not_ pass the date info along to Donghyuck.

Or he could tell Yukhei the truth.

He reaches out with:

[ ](https://postimg.cc/21J2VHVJ)

And Yukhei hits him back with winking and smiling emojis and knocks Jaehyun's plan right out from under him.

[ ](https://postimg.cc/t1xDPh6g)

So Jaehyun is officially out of the effective loop.

He's never been a person of weak constitution, but in the couple of days leading up to Donghyuck's date with Yukhei Jaehyun finds himself coming down with something. Likely enough, it's just stress from work and not eating enough greens, but either way he feels less than good.

It's not quite a cold, nor is it food poisoning; something else, something tired and vaguely depressing, a bit achey and emotional. Everything feels off.

"You're really useless when you're sick," Donghyuck used to tell him, while cooking up whatever cure food he could imagine.

"Colds don't usually make people _more_ capable," Jaehyun had sniffled back.

An inadvisable amount of turmeric would then be dumped into the chicken soup. "But you, particularly, become pathetic. I love it. It makes me feel so handy and needed."

Jaehyun wishes he were in the same position now, about to drink down Donghyuck's suspicious concoction before the two of them doze through hallmark films, rather than waiting for Jungwoo to find a place that delivers while wondering which sports car Yukhei picked Donghyuck up in.

"My bet is on the Porsche," Jungwoo tosses out while scrolling through the delivery options.

"Which one?”

"That electric blue thing. Or the Jag."

Jaehyun kicks off the light blanket covering him, feeling stifled and stiff, and sighs. "Probably the Jag."

If Johnny is rich in the intimidating way then Yukhei is rich in the cool way, the way where he's nonchalant about it except for flaunting the expensive cars. He's tall, charming, handsome as all get out, and Jaehyun cannot recall why he couldn't have just _told_ Donghyuck that anyone would be lucky to date him, himself included, rather than having to prove it. 

"Stop sighing," Jungwoo tuts, not even looking up from his phone, "this is your punishment, which you deserve. If you don't want other men with sexy cars courting him, do it yourself. But since you won't, you get to be sick and sorry for yourself while he has a great time looking at all the stars in Donghyuck's eyes."

"Thank you for reminding me. I don't even know why I'm sick, it's weird."

"Heartsick, baby," Jungwoo says, throwing him a wink.

Jaehyun scoffs, which becomes a cough, which ends in a groan. "That's ridic--" another cough "--culous."

Jungwoo must place the order because he finally pockets his phone. "No, it's happened to me before. Post break-up bug." He heads for the kitchen, so Jaehyun only just catches the added, "This is karma coming around on you."

While Jungwoo fills a glass of water, Jaehyun chides himself from another angle. This whole thing was way too much to ask of someone he just broke up with, especially with how easy it was to slide back into the habits they had.

When Jungwoo comes back, Jaehyun pushes himself up to sit. "Hey. I'm really sorry," he says.

Jungwoo blinks, chin tucking in surprise. "For what?"

"For making you help with all this, for making you lie."

"You didn't _make_ me do anything, Jae. You never have," Jungwoo replies.

He puts the water in Jaehyun's reach, then reaches and pets Jaehyun's hair. "I knew this idea was terrible from the beginning, and I decided to watch the wreck."

"No, you have been helping me, not just watching. That's more than we agreed. You've been putting up with me again."

"Sometimes we put up with people we care about, even when they're being unbelievably stupid." Jungwoo's tone is gentle as he gives Jaehyun's hair a final pat and lifts the blanket back up to tuck around him. "I need to get going. Make sure you eat all the food when it arrives, and please, if you talk to Hyuck, just tell him."

—

Jaehyun can hear wedding bells.

How he came to be where he is feels like a blur in his mind; a kaleidoscope of images and colors that don't all make sense, but add up to something like this, where flowers adorn the shoulders of chairs on either side of an aisle.

Guests fill chairs, sitting at odd angles, and he can hear so much but make heads or tails of none of it. He's cotton-eared, and inside his chest is a whole sheep.

The music feels backward but maybe that's the pebbles on his tongue, noisy scratching inside his mouth, loud and making him unable to speak, and Jaehyun is looking at the place where the minister stands from the wrong perspective. He thinks he should be up there.

He's waiting for someone.

The ground rolls in a wave like a flicked beach towel and he stumbles, and when Jaehyun looks up the guests are just a collection of his false starts and mistakes and striding between them, warmth personified.

Donghyuck walks up the aisle, in silks trailing with gold and birds.

Jaehyun watches and doesn't breathe and the sheep in his chest bleats brokenly. He watches, and Donghyuck walks until he reaches the front, now at the back, where he takes the hand of someone. Someone is not Jaehyun and the ceremony begins, music backwards while Jaehyun runs.

He's at a bar now, it's a bar at the wedding, a whole bar room inside a wedding venue and the dartboards sag off the walls, pierced wedding cake bleeding raspberry filling.

"What's eating you?" the bartender asks, handing Jaehyun a drink. It's his first. It's his tenth.

Nothing, I'm fine, Jaehyun says, and it comes out, "We shouldn't be here."

"We're not," says the bartender, sticky pads of fingers jostling the drink. He ribbets. He is a frog and he is not. He is a dog. His tongue lolls out. Jaehyun thinks he's maybe Jungwoo and pulls his ear.

An arm twists around Jaehyun's shoulders and he turns on the dance floor that is not a bar, that is not at his wedding but someone else's. Donghyuck’s, but not his. The arm is attached to a man and they sway to the jingle from a tv set. 

"You did all this! All because of you!"

The man's voice is loud, ringing, happy, and Jaehyun looks up a thousand meters above his head into a huge smile. It's like Yukhei's. That makes sense, since the dance floor is in a sports car.

"We couldn't have done this without you," Yukhei says, squeezing Jaehyun's shoulders into pancakes. "Donghyuck and I would have been married in Venezuela, if not for you."

"Right," says Jaehyun, "good thing I helped." It doesn't feel good, though. The room keeps turning, turning and turning, and turning, and turn— 

Jaehyun feels sick.

He pushes away from Yukhei, fighting the tailcoat that wraps around his arms and he's tilted, tripping… 

He falls off the couch.

"Did you win?" a voice asks.

Groggily, Jaehyun can feel the impact of the floor from his elbows up to his skull, and groans. "Win what?" 

"The fight with the throw blanket. It doesn't look like you did."

And now Jaehyun can hear better, and it's Donghyuck speaking to him.

Donghyuck, who is on a date right now. Should be on a date, right now.

Why is he not on a date _right now?_

Disentangling from the blanket proves Jaehyun did not in fact win, as it takes him considerable effort to finally get free and look both at the clock and at Donghyuck. It's eight-thirty pm, barely an hour into the date's projected time, and Donghyuck is sitting on the perpendicular segment of Jaehyun's sofa, eating what looks to be a bowl of ice cream.

Something must have gone wrong.

"You're...Yukhei...did he stand you up? Oh my god. He stood you up."

"No, he was there." Donghyuck spoons pistachio into his mouth calmly.

“He was?...Fuck, then he was an asshole wasn’t he. I knew the whole persona was fake. I mean, who is that sexy but also stupidly nice? What did he do? Did he feel you up in public?! If he did I'm gonna—“

Donghyuck shakes his head. “Hyung, he didn’t do anything. He was really nice and I liked meeting him. I had fun.”

This simply does not make sense. Last time Jaehyun checked, having fun on a date rarely resulted in leaving it early.

“Well, then...then why the fuck are you here?”

Donghyuck sort of shrugs and doesn’t really meet his eyes, which leaves Jaehyun standing in his living room clutching his chunky crocheted throw and reeling.

“I just didn’t want to be on a date with him.”

Jaehyun is stunned. "You...but. What?"

The spoon scrapes around Donghyuck's bowl. "Didn't want to be there. So we parted ways."

“Well, I..." Jaehyun's brain trips over itself, sleep and illness addled. "I don't have any more dates for you, we can try like, I dunno, one of those apps or something.”

Donghyuck sighs.

He sighs and looks up at Jaehyun, and Jaehyun's fever nightmare blooms back into his memory in shrapnel pieces, more feeling than anything, and he blinks hard.

Wait.

Wait. "Donghyuck, wait, I actually—” 

“Jaehyun, I don’t want to date more people. I just want to date you.”

Jaehyun sucks in a sharp breath. "You. You want—?” 

"Also, I know you aren’t dating Jungwoo for real anymore. Do I look stupid? I know you better than that. And anyway he told me like a week ago.”

He can't quite decide whether to feel betrayed or grateful, so Jaehyun gives up on it. He sits down. He stands again. What is going on.

Donghyuck's eyes follow him, and he laughs. "I don't get why you broke up with him, though, I'll admit. Except that he's too good for you."

"Yeah, yeah he is," Jaehyun agrees, feeling lightheaded. "But, you, you're not? No. Yes you are.”

"Can you please sit down?"

"Yes, sorry." Jaehyun stops his frenetic movement and forces himself to sit. "You...again? You want...I mean, I...you...but why?"

Donghyuck leaves his bowl on the couch and moves to Jaehyun's side, sitting the barest space away. He takes his hand in his two, smoothing over Jaehyun's fingers like they're breakable.

"Hyung, there never was a back up plan. There was just a plan, and it was always you."

Jaehyun's ears ring like he's been punched.

"It's okay if you don't want to go through with that plan, though," continues Donghyuck, "we were really young when we made it and it was pretty stupid. But I do want to be with you, and I didn't feel good about pretending not to."

"I mean, the dates were fun. For a little bit I thought maybe, if you were taken, Johnny wouldn't be a bad option for me. But then he told me about how he was surprised the date was with me and not you and...well, that was weird for both of us."

"I'm so stupid."

"Yes."

But Donghyuck still holds his hand, sliding his fingers in, out of the divots between Jaehyun's and keeping his gaze low.

"It was stupid of _me_ though to show up and ambush you with a marriage proposal based solely off my recent birthday and Doyoung mentioning you were single."

"He mentioned it? Why?"

Finally, Donghyuck looks at him. "Because I _asked,_ hyung. I'd always ask, just to see. To find out if I'd make it to thirty or lose you for good."

Ground breaks in Jaehyun's brain. "You were supposed to be married by now. You weren't supposed to wait."

Jaehyun grips the blanket, still in his hand, tighter when Donghyuck releases his other and smiles a little sadly at him.

"It wasn't that hard. If I had really found someone, maybe I wouldn't have. But we never really, _really_ gave each other space, did we?"

Jaehyun knows.

"Look," Donghyuck turns his knees, facing Jaehyun, holding his gaze. "If you still don't want me, that's life. I'll really move on. It won't even be a break up this time, and we just keep being exes. But maybe...don't call me when you're lonely. That would be too hard."

"I won't call you when I'm lonely," Jaehyun says in a rush.

"Oh. Okay, well, that's good—” 

"Donghyuck, I don't want to have to call you. I don't want to get lonely, and I don't want you to be far away enough to have to call. And I don't want you to date more people, either."

His hands are shaking terribly, and Jaehyun isn't sure if it's his anxieties or the fever, but he takes both of Donghyuck's hands in his, resting them on the point where their knees touch.

"Please don't go out with anyone else. Please _do_ let me try and be with you again."

"You don't plan on enlisting again, do you?"

"No."

"Then, yeah. That's what I came here for." Donghyuck squeezes Jaehyun's hands as a real, glimmering smile pulls his lips.

“Do we start over, then? Go on a date?"

Donghyuck edges closer. “Yep, okay with me.”

“But not getting married or anything right away. I'm not saying never, just, let's talk about it.”

“Totally fine.” His hand has left Jaehyun's, instead smoothing up over Jaehyun's shoulder.

Jaehyun wonders if there's any part of this day where he won't feel dizzy. “What if, we can start with going out for a normal dinner date—” 

“Mhm.”

“Maybe a movie. Movie could be good?”

“Sure.” Donghyuck scratches lightly through the hairs at Jaehyun's nape.

At some point Jaehyun's hands moved to Donghyuck's waist all on their own; he doesn't know when. Too much of his focus is on his mouth, his smile. Donghyuck smiles victoriously, but Jaehyun feels like he holds the real prize.

“...Do you want to stay here tonight?”

“Yes.”

Pulling Donghyuck into his lap hardly even seems like Jaehyun's idea. It's just the next move, the one he realizes he's been ready to do for weeks. And Donghyuck kissing him? Well it isn't new, and Jaehyun loves it all the more for that, for how right it feels. Donghyuck careening forward, his palms warm on Jaehyun's jaw while his fingers branch higher, gentle claws to hold Jaehyun's face as close as he wants. And he seems to want him very close, face and body and everything, exhaling sighs between their lips and then chasing them.

The path from the couch to the master bedroom is a maze of end tables and discarded clothing amidst kisses, and in a pause where Donghyuck is pressed up against the wall across from the open bedroom door Jaehyun suddenly asks, "Wait, doesn't matter but, did you sleep with Johnny?"

Donghyuck laughs. "If it doesn't matter, then why ask?"

"Call me a little jealous, then."

Lifting on his toes, Donghyuck presses his forehead to Jaehyun's. "I did not sleep with him," he says. "Didn't I tell you he was too dominant for me?"

Jaehyun nudges their noses. "Right."

"Happy now, jealous little Jaehyun?"

"Very."

"Good." Donghyuck gives him a small shove backwards. "On the bed, then, hyung."

"Hyung?"

"Sorry. On the bed, _baby_."

Jaehyun's skin tingles as he goes, relishing the glint in his eyes.

Kicking the door shut, Donghyuck follows.

— 

Jaehyun sits alone at his kitchen table, the morning sunlight no more awake than himself as he waits for the coffee to finish its drip. He's always been a morning person; the unique kind of quiet of a world not quite yet on its feet for the day offering him welcome peace.

Never for too long, though. He has, oh, maybe an hour before he'll have to let the day throw whatever it has for him his way.

Jaehyun feels more ready for it than usual, though.

Probably because now, he— 

There's a knock at his front door. He'd get up to answer it, but it's quickly followed by several more, and instead Jaehyun goes to his cupboard and pulls out two coffee mugs, filling both.

He could answer the door, but there's really no point when he can anticipate already.

"Good morning."

Jaehyun greets, when he figures the time between the door-code beeps, the removal of shoes, and distance to the kitchen archway have added up.

"Ooh, coffee. Good morning!" Jungwoo appears in the kitchen and Jaehyun hands him a steaming cup next thing.

"On your way to the office this early?" Jaehyun asks, not sure what time Jungwoo's current project with the city requires the contract landscape designer to arrive at work.

Jungwoo sips and hums, smiling. "No, well, yes, but I wanted to stop by and see how you're doing first."

Jaehyun gestures to the kitchen chair and they sit, and Jungwoo grows a little more serious. "You look alright, so that's good. But...have you heard from him?"

"I heard from him." Jaehyun's face stays taut, his thumb smoothing the lip of his mug.

"Oh." Jungwoo looks ready to speak, but then stops and takes a hearty swig. Jaehyun catches him wincing at the heat. "Well, listen, Jae, it's not the end of the world, you—” 

As Jungwoo speaks, Jaehyun catches movement in his peripheral vision. He puts his coffee down.

Donghyuck glides in from behind Jungwoo, right up beside Jaehyun's chair, and plants his hands on Jaehyun's shoulders. Jungwoo's sentence, whatever it was going to be, dies in his mouth.

"I was going to be mad you let me wake up alone," says Donghyuck, "but then I smelled coffee."

Huh. It's like, the windows must have widened, with how the light in the room suddenly seems brighter. Jaehyun's chest aches mutedly to have Donghyuck there, simple in a borrowed white undershirt and sweatpants, the latter slouching at the knees from being a bit too big.

He smiles and pinches Jaehyun's cheek, teasing. "Morning, Jungwoo," Donghyuck says as he releases his hold.

Jungwoo's face when Donghyuck moves from between them to get his own coffee is sight enough for Jaehyun to crack out a laugh.

"You let me think!" Jungwoo accuses.

"You were so convinced I failed!"

"Well!" Jungwoo lifts his shoulders, shaking his head. "You failed every other time! Statistics were not in your favor."

Another mug curling with steam settles on the table, and Donghyuck interjects, "Well, I don't fail. Lucky for him."

He doesn't sit, instead going to Jaehyun's other side now and taking a moment to card his fingers through Jaehyun's hair. Donghyuck adds, "I invested too much time to give up that easily."

Jungwoo laughs. "Clearly. Well, congrats, you've got him again."

"Do you mean me, or—” 

Jaehyun's words halt as his vision goes suddenly yellow-white, his ear and cheek unexpectedly pressed into Donghyuck's solar plexus and chest as Donghyuck's shirt goes over his head. He hears Jungwoo sputter and cough.

"Why." Jaehyun asks.

"Keep you," replies Donghyuck.

A sigh from Jungwoo. "God dammit. Don't move, I'm getting my camera."

Jaehyun can hear the chair shift and Jungwoo shuffle to the hallway, and when he looks up Donghyuck has tucked his face down inside his collar too.

"Hello."

"Have you always been this strange?"

He asks, but Jaehyun knows. It's the little unpredictable moments that had him fall for Donghyuck in the first place, and it's them that keep him so now, as Donghyuck's hand outside the shirt tilts Jaehyun's head back so he can lean in and kiss him soundly, hidden behind cotton.

"Sharing clothes, stealing kisses...my god. It's like you're married already," Jungwoo comments.

Donghyuck frees Jaehyun and Jaehyun rolls his eyes, unable to retort as Jungwoo asks for Donghyuck's number to send the photo to him.

Okay, so hearing "married" makes his heart sprint, still. But maybe Jaehyun's not so afraid anymore. Like Jungwoo said...if he thinks about it, it almost feels like they already are.

Jaehyun sips as he thinks. He might be ready to be part of a plan. And not a back-up one.

\-- epilogue --

They're forty minutes into a documentary on minimalism when Donghyuck, tucked like a throw pillow under Jaehyun's arm, turns to him and says:

"Do you remember Jungwoo?"

Jaehyun nods, keeping his eyes on the screen. "Yes," he replies, "I recall two nights ago when we had drinks with him, Taeyong and Doyoung."

"No, no I mean," Donghyuck adjusts, his hand coming to draw nonsense lines on Jaehyun's stomach. "Do you remember like, being with him."

And this makes Jaehyun pause; himself, the movie...pause and look at Donghyuck directly.

"What do you mean? Why?"

"Well, do you?"

Jaehyun exhales. "It wasn't all that long ago, I remember." A short relationship; good, fun, warm. Sweet, but too much when Jaehyun wasn't ready.

"Mm." Donghyuck pinches at his shirt. "And you remember when I said I was thinking of something new for us to try?"

"...yes..."

"I was thinking of him."

The back of Jaehyun's neck tingles, like long, phantom fingers tugging at short hairs. "You were?"

"He's still single."

Jaehyun tightens his grip on Donghyuck's waist. He does remember Jungwoo. Mainly in light of his own mistakes, but also some good things. Very good things.

"And you think...he would be open to. That."

Donghyuck looks up at Jaehyun, dark eyes under long lashes.

"I guess you don't know how he looks at you. I do, though. How he's looked at you since the day you introduced me. It's a lot like the way I look at you, I imagine."

There's a dry spot in Jaehyun's throat. He gently lingers on the thought of having Jungwoo there, with them.

The thought is not an unpleasant one. It is, he would even say, pretty attractive.

Jaehyun toys with the elastic edge of Donghyuck's waistband, considering.

"Okay, I'm open to it. But if he says no?"

Donghyuck grins. "Don't worry. I have a back-up plan."

[ ](https://postimg.cc/75P9L5w5)

[- end FOR REAL -]

**Author's Note:**

> yes, they do get married. yes, they DO tempt jungwoo over. he wasn't kidding when he said he was weak for jaehyun still. yes they also date him. that is what i know, thank u.
> 
> also, the locations in the texts that jaehyun sends r real, and all the timestamps r actually correct EXCEPT the ones in hendery's messages which. makes me rage. but we will Ignore That.
> 
> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/ImJaeBabie)   
> or twt @imjaebabie


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